Fr Alvin Kimel says:I remember when I first came across J. I. Packer’s introduction to Owen’s *The Death of Death in the Death of Christ* in which he approvingly affirmed Owen’s understanding of limited atonement. He inferred from this that the preacher may not declare to his congregation “Christ died for you.” He is only permitted to declare, “Christ died for sinners.” At that moment I realized I could never be a Calvinist.IMHO, the important question is, what kind of preaching does a doctrine authorize and sanction? If a doctrine does not allow me to say, “God loves you and wills your salvation,” then it must be heterodox. It cannot be gospel.I honestly do not understand the rise of the new Calvinism within evangelicalism. It simply does not preach as gospel. There always remains the dark side of God, the spectre of double predestination. 5-point Calvinism is profoundly skewed. I do not know how it can be reconciled to orthodox Christianity.
No hiding anymore. Fr. Kimel has blown my cover. I’m a Sith
Lord. I worship the dark side of God.
I flunked out of Jedi Knight Academy. I tried to be good.
Really I did. But the devil has all the best tunes (as the old saying goes).
Coming from an Anglican turned Roman Catholic turned Eastern
Orthodox, I’d be worried if my compass spun around as much as Kimel’s. Hold up
a magnet and here he comes!
In Kimel’s theology, the entrance to Tophet has a sign overhead
saying:
God loves youAnd wills your salvationWelcome to Hell!
Honestly, what difference does it make to the damned if you
say “God loves you” or “God hates you”?
“I love you, but I can’t save you.” Who cares–for all the
good it does?
As far as preaching the Gospel is concerned, I think it
stimulates self-examination if sinners don’t presume that God loves them. If
they don’t take that for granted. Taking God’s love for granted is a way of
taking God for granted.
A better motivation for conversion is for sinners to find
out if God loves them. To discover whether or not God loves them by their very
response to the offer of the Gospel.
You can base a good evangelistic message on “Come and see”
or “Come and taste.”
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see” (Jn 1:45-46).29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him (Jn 4:29-30).17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Rev 22:17).
I ran across this today, a recording by Bahnsen:
ReplyDeletehttp://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/greg-bahnsen-lecture-on-foreordination-and-human-responsibility/
That type of reasoning is either inconsistent, or not fully thought through.
God's total and complete sovereignty is one of the most amazing and liberating truths He has seen fit (He ordained it, even!) to reveal to me.
I was unclear in my words above-
DeleteI did not mean that Bahnsen's reasoning was either inconsistent, or not fully thought through, but that those who accuse God are being inconsistent and incomplete in their thinking.
Justin
"Honestly, what difference does it make to the damned if you say “God loves you” or “God hates you”?"
ReplyDeleteHonestly, none.
A mass murderer is sentenced to either death by injection or to life in prison without parole. Does it matter if the human judge says to the damned, "I love you" or "I hate you"?
The book of Acts records a number of sermons and in none of them is there any mention of God 'loving' as an impetus for faith. BUT there is quite a bit about the necessity of repenting!
ReplyDelete